Christmas Dinners!

We're having roast beef and yorkshire puds. I often make a mushroom pate for an appetizer and Mom makes marinated black olives.

Aside from that, we've not decided what else. I think scalloped potatoes, a tossed salad, and a hot veg would be nice. That followed by home made cookies, peppermint ice cream with home made hot fudge sauce, and a cheese board would do nicely!

Okay, I can ask this on this forum.  Is it weird to go out to dinner on Christmas?
I have never done it before, and never thought I would, but .....
I have a big extended family in the US and we do it up big!  But being over here, by ourselves, the thought of cooking a big feast for the 5 of us, and I can never please everyone with what I choose to cook -ugh!  Maybe it would just be easier to order from a menu.

We will do our traditional cheese fondue with Christmas carols for Christmas eve.  And I always make a nice brunch for Christmas day.  But, has anyone gone out to dinner on Christmas?  What did it feel like?

Is it weird to go out to dinner on Christmas?

My MiL has wanted to take us out on Christmas Day...what you'll find is most places on Christmas will have a set menu of what they're serving and that you would have to book in advance...you can try to find places that are still accepting bookings but with just over a week before Christmas it may be difficult (and quite expensive as some of the places we were looking at for Christmas were running about £59-£75 per person).

It's expensive and often the food isn't very good, but it's not weird.  We went to a pub last year and it was packed, but they charged us £50 for the worst carvery I've ever had.

Okay, I can ask this on this forum.  Is it weird to go out to dinner on Christmas?
I have never done it before, and never thought I would, but .....

Find yourself a really nice pub that has good food and enjoy.  


So far let's see- I've had for my various Christmas meals-  
1.) Chicken-Chilli Salad, Vegetable lasagna, and Raspberry Trifle
2.) Roast turkey and all the trimmings and banoffe pie
3.) A gorgeous nibble spread- which included chili/gucamole/salsa, quiche, cranberry/turkey wraps, kilted pigs ('nough said, I love 'em!), smoked salmon pate, and christmas cake
4.) Tonight's meal will be Winter Veg Soup, A cod wrapped in smoked salmon and cream sauce, and banoffee cheesecake

Next week-two more meals...hrmmm....

Then- Christmas Day with J's parents, which I think is turkey and all the trimmings again. Mince Pies.  And then Boxing Day. Another roast beast I think!

Which leaves me Christmas Eve- and I think I will do something really nice ,but simple, like a good steak- kind of thing.  

Then, I'm off to the US for the New Year- and we're doing my family Christmas on New Year's Day- and my mom will be making ham/scalloped potatoes/veg, etc and then we're doing another family Christmas party on the 2 January with aunts and uncles and cousins, etc - which will be at my sister's house and I think she's making another roasted beast of some sort!

((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((()))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

(that's the size of my a$$ after this Christmas season! Nice to be popular though!!! And at least the really good thing about having a broken car is that I am walking everywhere - and the snow adds extra resitance!  )

We went to the local country club/hotel here one year. It was £50.00 ahead and we stayed overnight as well...the food was not bad..


There were 7 of us in our family and 4 in DH sister's family we also brought alot of snacky food for later in the evening and we took over the reception area and sat and drank and talked and laughed

It was fun but I wouldn't pay that kind of money again!

We were planning to go back to the US for a combined family christmas (both families are, sadly, very small) but because our little cat is very ill, we decided to stay in London with her.  

So....I'm cooking.  Yikes!  Ordered a brined boneless turkey breast from Whole Foods (I am not much of a cook, so I need all of the help I can get) and will be doing mashed potatoes, glazed carrots, string beans and stuffing.  Making a pumpkin pie for dessert.  

Doing a sweet almond bread and some pumpkin muffins for breakfast.  

Okay, I can ask this on this forum.  Is it weird to go out to dinner on Christmas?

We were thinking about going out for dinner here in London this year, when we first decided to stay here.  As mentioned, there's not much (really not much!) open and what is open is expensive and involving a set menu.  Most of the menus weren't really what I was looking for, so I decided to make dinner myself.  We went out for Christmas dinner back in the US one year.  My parents were building a house that was behind schedule ( ), and they were stuck in a hotel for the holidays.  So we went out.  It was different, but not awful.  As it turned out, it was the year everyone on the east coast seemed to get the norwalk virus, so while we were all on the mend, we were all feeling pretty drained (ba dum bum), so going out was a really good idea.

We were planning to go back to the US for a combined family christmas (both families are, sadly, very small) but because our little cat is very ill, we decided to stay in London with her.  

So....I'm cooking.  Yikes!  Ordered a brined boneless turkey breast from Whole Foods (I am not much of a cook, so I need all of the help I can get) and will be doing mashed potatoes, glazed carrots, string beans and stuffing.  Making a pumpkin pie for dessert.  

Doing a sweet almond bread and some pumpkin muffins for breakfast.  

We were thinking about going out for dinner here in London this year, when we first decided to stay here.  As mentioned, there's not much (really not much!) open and what is open is expensive and involving a set menu.  Most of the menus weren't really what I was looking for, so I decided to make dinner myself.  We went out for Christmas dinner back in the US one year.  My parents were building a house that was behind schedule ( ), and they were stuck in a hotel for the holidays.  So we went out.  It was different, but not awful.  As it turned out, it was the year everyone on the east coast seemed to get the norwalk virus, so while we were all on the mend, we were all feeling pretty drained (ba dum bum), so going out was a really good idea.

Sorry to hear about your change in plans

How much was your turkey breast if you don't mind me asking?

Sorry to hear about your change in plans

How much was your turkey breast if you don't mind me asking?

It was 9.99/kg and since there's only 2 of us, we're getting a tiny size turkey -- the guy at the meat counter said it would probably be right around 2kg all in.  Possibly insane?  I don't cook much (or well!) so I'm clueless about what that sort of thing costs because I tend to not cook more than chicken breasts.  

Thanks on the change in plans.  It's a bummer all around.  I am sad to miss the holiday at home, especially since we'd managed to convince my husband's father that he wanted to spend a few days with my family so we could all be together and not spend all of our home time in airports.  But our little cat means so much to us, and she's been so ill (but thankfully is holding steady right now) that I'd spend the whole time worrying and would never forgive myself if something happened while we were away -- and our regular catsitter was happy to refund our non-refundable holiday deposit because it means she's not responsible for a terminally ill cat.  I am pretty sure a lot of people think we're nuts, but our cats are family, too.  

For our Thanksgiving, we had a butterflied, boneless turkey breast - it was between 4.5 - 5 kg, from our local butcher (all the meat, poultry, etc is free range, from local farms, and fresh, etc).  DH bought a little bit of bacon (6 rashers of thick, back bacon) at the same time & the total (all in - including the bacon) was £35.

Update on the Christmas pud ice cream - it was BRILLIANT!

I made vanilla ice cream in the ice cream maker, then stirred in mixed fruit and bits of Christmas pudding that had been soaked in brandy. Perfection! 

We are having traditional mains.  The desserts are Pumpkin Pie (requested by my DH), Rum Cake, Fudge Brownies and soft sugar cookies with butter cream frosting.

Update on the Christmas pud ice cream - it was BRILLIANT!

I made vanilla ice cream in the ice cream maker, then stirred in mixed fruit and bits of Christmas pudding that had been soaked in brandy. Perfection! 

That sounds yummy!!!!

Update on the Christmas pud ice cream - it was BRILLIANT!

I made vanilla ice cream in the ice cream maker, then stirred in mixed fruit and bits of Christmas pudding that had been soaked in brandy. Perfection! 

Ooooh! That is really good to hear as we're going to have a go at it next week! Did it look as pretty and festive? Thanks for reporting back, Chary!

I have decided to make a ham this Christmas, using Nigella's recipe. I made it last New Years Day and it was delicious! The gravy was amazing too! http://www.nigella.com/recipes/view/ham-in-coca-cola-171

I will put out a tray of cheese and crackers for nibbles

For my side dishes I will be having

Roast potatoes
Roasted carrots and parsnips
Corn bread
Yorkshire puddings
cranberry sauce
Stuffing...the best part of the meal if you ask me! 

For dessert we will have a choice of 3 things
Cheese cake
pumpkin pie
assorted cupcake
 

My friends said they wanted to bring a turkey and a side dish! I told them it wasn't necessary but they insisted.  I don't mind at all but they will be taking a load of food back home with them! I hate wasting and we were already going to have left overs for DAYS!